July 26, 2026

Hello new week!  Last time we'll see July 26, 2026 for a while!  I hope everyone has been enjoying the relatively comfortable weather we've been having.  I know I'm spending more time outside talking to the flowers and critters than usual.  What, even more than usual?   Oh well, I have to say that once in a while.

These little blue Asiatic Day Flowers are so wonderful when they make eye contact with you in the morning (or any other time of day that you are out there!).  Maybe second-best is the Cotton Thistle that seems to grace every fence post you lay your eyes on.  I was going to call this third flower opening "ordinary" but then stopped myself with the realization that there is no "ordinary" out there in this world and this season!

Here is a game you can play along with the birds.  

Outside I hear one of the local birds singing "tweet tweet tweet tweet" (you try keeping track of how many "tweets" you hear)" over and over.  Sometimes I just sit on my big outdoor chair and sing (whistle) along.  The birds don't seem to be freaked out by the strange voice they hear and just repeat whatever I whistled out!  What fun that is.  You must try it.  Sometimes I find that it is easiest to get out a "sentence" by whistling it backwards and forwards until someone answers.  Let me know how that works out for you!  You might even decide you fit into the pattern Nature has set out as you try to fit your voice into the mix.   (When I say "backwards and forwards" I mean to say, if you don't like what you hear when you whistle, stop and try saying the same thing in either direction and maybe you will hear someone else start to repeat one of those utterances for you.)  Maybe Dale Kennedy and/or Doug White will help you in your quest for togetherness with the birds!  Whenever I've asked either of them for info about what I'm seeing, they have been most helpful!

Some people seem to have trouble getting started with whistling along.  Whistling is an acquired skill, but gradually most people begin to have some luck doing it (some sooner than others).  Keep trying!  Pick a bird whose call seems to mean something and try joining in.  They may even start to help you along!

I hear that there are websites where people can try to get to know each other - maybe such a thing exists for people and birds!

I don't know what this little fellow is but there do seem to be a number  of them out there about now.  It looks as if its wings are not totally out yet.  

Here are some of my favorite customers of the week.  I don't know what the little critter is in the thistle at the left, but I love the thistle itself!   Next is a red Dragonfly that spent quite a while out there yesterday (Saturday). 

I thought you might like to see how I spend some of my time protesting national politics.  Those are various bits of Dave and Dottie Kammer on the left side.  

Here are a couple of little Bees in one of the Thistle flowers.  Second is a Rustic Borer (a kind of Beetle).

Xylotrechus colonus

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Well, folks.  That seems to be about it for new critters in this yard this week.  But I would like to add to this blog that I just read that NASA awakens New Horizons spacecraft to do science billions of miles beyond Pluto .  Check it out!

I'll leave you now - have a wonderful rest of the weekend!   Love, Martha